So we were on a shoot Saturday morning, and Debra got a text from Kerry, and she told him about the shoot we were on and that I was setting up the Blackbelt Lighting BB560 …

A Guest Post on Low Key Studio Lighting by Kyle Miller from Photography Tips
I’ve talked about basic and advanced lighting techniques commonly used for virtually any studio photo shoot, but those lighting setups require more …

I get asked all the time what a really solid portrait lighting setup should consist of. My stock answer is a softbox as the main light, a shoot through umbrella for fill and a third …

Chris Diset and Kerry Garrison take a look back at Photo Project 24 2011 and discuss what the project was about, some of the challenges of the project, and how the project has changed their …

This past weekend I ended up with a rather tricky product shot to do for a client. When he had originally explained the job to me he said it was a “water bottle” so I …

This week Kerry Garrison is speaking at both the OC Photo Club on Tuesday and the LA SmugMug on Thursday. At both locations the topic is how to use multiple light sources. Kerry will start …

I have been asked over and over to do a book or eBook on lighting and now after numerous rewrites trying to get the right combination of topics and page count, I am happy to …

Every once in a while we dredge up a classic post from the past. One of the most popular posts ever was this one on using high speed sync (fp sync on Nikons).
One of my …

We are beginning a series we are going to call photography basics to help explore the basics of digital photography. While the focus is on digital photography, all of the concepts will apply whether you are shooting film or digital. In this first installment we are going to look at how to control exposure by manipulating the different settings on the camera such as ISO, Shutter, and Aperture. Upcoming installments will focus on other areas such as depth of field, motion control, and specific shooting scenarios.

A big stumbling block for many new camera users is how to figure out how much depth of field a particular image will have it in given the focal length of the lens, the aperture used and the distance to the subject. Trust me on this, trying to do the algebra to figure it out is not something most people want to try to do in their heads. In this article we will cover all of the math involved and then make it real easy with an Excel spreadsheet and some links to some free applications to help you out.

Recently Linda Ralston, one of my Facebook friends, asked me how I go about setting my flash exposure for some nighttime wedding shots I had posted. The conversation on Facebook led to what I dubbed …

Although you may think that no two situations are alike, the fact is that there are quite a few constants that you can rely on to give you a good starting point. The sun is one of these things you can count on to be consistent. Of course there are things that affect the sun’s output like the time of day, haze, fog, and clouds, but on a bright sunny day the light output is very consistent and knowing the camera settings for this condition will give you a guideline to make adjustments. This is where the “sunny 16″ rule comes into play.